Prapakamol and Thoungthongkam defeats All England finalist and sixth seeds Clark and Kellogg, opening the floodgates on the upsets that have flooded the first day of the 11th leg of the Super Series, the China Open.
Chen Xu and Zhao Tingting knock out the 7th seeds Laybourne and Juhl in Mixed Doubles. Upset!
Unknown Anna Rice edges past Yip Pui Yin. Upset!
If you think that is unusual...
Park Sung Hwan defeats Lin Dan. BANG! UPSET!
Just when you thought Chinese head coach Li Yongbo's temper couldn't get any worse... Fairuzizuan and Zakry sweeps past Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng. BANG! BANG! UPSET! UPSET! UPSET!!!
With the 2 Chinese hopes (Cai/Fu and Lin Dan)demolished in the first round, the ticket organizers might be groaning as they witness ticket sales dropping. With the shock departure of the 2 favorites for the Men's titles, one wonders whether China's expected dominance in the Olympic Games next year will be marred by upsets like these. Is the Chinese public putting too much hope on their hometown golden boys? Lin Dan fell in the first round of the Athens Olympics even though he was the first seed. Cai and Fu fell in the quarterfinals after leading all the way in the first game. Are the Olympics too hot for Chinese players to handle?
There will certainly be some postmortem examination in the Chinese camp after the end of this Super Series tournament.
PS: Just as I am typing this, the Chinese first seed in Women's Doubles are behind by a game... Upset?
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Upset Upset Upset!
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3 comments:
with the departure of these top guns from china, looks like china open is a jinx for them. unlike malaysians where home turf is always a home ground advantage, it seemed the opposite for the chinese. so, looks like we cant label them jaguh kampung or village champion. but is it true standard of badminton in china has dropped? haha, few would dare to claim that, i assure u.
with so many SS tournaments this yr, i guess they r entitled to some stumbles. everyone expects them to be pristine as ever, but with local support plus pressure, looks like they crumbled. however, this is a good indication and it augurs well for our players:) since OG08 gonna be held in china too. how far our players can go, is up to their will to win for the country.
barring any further upsets in this tournament, i hope malaysian players will find their bearing well, and not fall victim to pressure since most of the top chinese players are out, the pressure now lies on them since they r the next forerunners for the titles in guangzhou.
let us see today if WMC can continue her fine fine form and also other msian players:P crossing my fingers very hard now...
any idea what time the game starts today?
lee: agree with you, and the matches start at 1pm today
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